Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the aging effect of thermomechanical cyclic load on fracture resistance of lower premolars obturated with AH Plus and BioRoot RCS root canal sealers. Forty-eight single-rooted premolars teeth were instrumented with REVO-S files up to SU/0.06 taper. The teeth were randomly assigned into 2 main groups (n = 24) according to the selected two root canal sealers (AH Plus or BioRoot RCS). All teeth were obturated using matching gutta-percha. Each main group were further divided into 3 subgroups (A, B and C) (n = 8). Group A acted as the negative control group (non-Thermomechanical aging). Whereas Group B and C were subjected first to thermal variations in a thermal cycling machine (7500 and 15,000 thermal cycles), then two different dynamic loading periods namely 3 x 10(5) and 6 x 10(5) in a masticatory simulator with a nominal load of 5 kg at 1.2 Hz which simulate approximately 1 1/2 and 3 years of clinical function respectively. The roots were decoronated and fracture resistance were measured using a universal testing machine. After thermal-mechanical aging, BioRoot RCS showed significantly higher fracture resistance (p < 0.05) than AH Plus. As the thermal-mechanical cycles increased both AH Plus and BioRoot RCS exhibited a significant decrease in fracture resistance (p < 0.05). It could be concluded that thermomechanical aging had a significant impact on the outcome of the fracture resistance of AH Plus and BioRoot RCS.